What to legally do with a hen!

mustistuff said:
i don't seem to be over run with them. think it is 6 in 5 years and i am in the field a lot. the problem for me is their attitude. two of the six were pleasant and helpful and both were in wyo. in colorado they are just plain nasty, the other two were in kansas, one was just plain rude and the other was a liar, being he was making up stuff that i was doing when in fact he never was in a position to see me in the field, he thought i was going too slow therefore i must have been road hunting, kinda dumb as i was on a farm road with about 8" of snow. something has changed in the mgt. of the wardens over the years and it is not for the better

cheers
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Similar experiences here is Wis. I typically run into them 2 - 3 times a year, most often when ice fishing. The majority of them treat you like you are guilty of something. Yes they have an important job to do buts no excuse for treating anyone they come across like a violator. Example - i'm done pheasant hunting for the afternoon and a warden meets me at my truck. Asks for my license and if i had any luck. No problem, reasonable questions just doing his job. Then he asks what i'm hunting for, as i stand there with an o/u shotgun, my two goldens, wearing a pheasants forever hat and vest. Then asks if i have anything in my truck.

I did have one check me this fall pheasant hunting in kettle moraine that was a nice guy with a good attitude.
 
hens

while this post is already all over the map, here in a contribution. maybe 30 years ago colorado pass a law saying you could shoot one hen in the daily bag limit. their studies showed that it would have no effect on the population, their thinking was that most birds don't make it through the winter anyway and the hens are the first to die. reasons for this are many but a big one is cover and competition for food. having a few less hens around would lessen the stress on the other's thereby, those survivors would be in better health when breeding time came around. this never came to pass as the farmers in n. e. colorado didn't like it and threatened to post all of their lands if the state didn't back down. the state did back down and changed the law back to roosters only and the farmers opened their lands. too bad the farmers interfered as it would have been a wonderful full state experiment and science from their studies should carry more weight than a lay opinion. right now in kansas for the most part we have both a cover and feed problem and under these conditions the pheasants are in for more trouble as there is not enough of anything to go around and instead of having a few hens shot we will just let them starve or feed the predators. there is another reason for having a one hen limit and that is hunter participation. we need hunters of all kinds as there is security in numbers. studies show that for example in colorado the average hunter shoots about 2 or 3 birds per year, so for many, is why bother to go. in kansas i think it is about 7 birds and s. dakota it is up to about 12. adding a hen to the limit at least in good years increases the enthusiasm in the field and may even get a kids heart pounding and make some others feel like they are having a good time. healthy birds are what we want not just birds that barely or not at all make it through the winter. the law should be changed and if you don't want to shoot a hen, don't. i believe in the studies and not the lay guy in the field. think most of you are kidding yourselves on this one.

cheers
 
519vx said:
In wisconsin, that could get you a ticket as well for wasting game by shooting but not making part of your daily bag. Conversely you could get a ticket for shooting a protected hen.

My personal opinion only, but it would bother me a lot to kill a game bird and just leave it in the field. I pulled the trigger, I owe it to the bird to utilize it and as an ethical sportsman I need to be prepared to face the consequences if I mess up, even if it was just an accident.
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I agree with this. But everyone is different, i understand why people leave them. Just as I assume other people understand why some people would take them.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
How often do you guys run into game wardens?

Not saying I'd break the law intentionally but I go an entire season without seeing a warden some falls. If I ended up with an illegal bird there is almost no chance of me seeing a warden out there.
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In North Dakota. I have run across 1 in my 30 plus years of hunting.
 
Once, I shot at a rooster which seemed to lock wings and glide off. Young Bert, the not-right dog (GWP) disappeared racing after it. I settled down to await the outcome.

A few minutes later, YB came back, pleased as could be with a pheasant in his mouth.

It was a hen. :(

I looked around, cleaned and skinned it, and presented it to the land-owner with no comment on how it came to be in the game bag.

But, if I'd had to carry it off the hunt site, it would have ended up staying there.

In my opinion only, once I agree to follow the game laws, I follow the game laws. They're not that restrictive and I figure when I buy the license I make a deal with the State. They let me hunt, I follow their rules.

This was the single exception.
 
I guess i don't Understand how the frequency of my interaction with CO officers enters into the equation? I rarely have been checked but that doesn't enter into my decision to follow the rules.
 
carptom1 said:
I guess i don't Understand how the frequency of my interaction with CO officers enters into the equation? I rarely have been checked but that doesn't enter into my decision to follow the rules.
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I think that's the case with 99% of hunters. Most all of whom follow the law because it's the law. Plain and simple. Officers or no officers, it really doesn't matter when it comes to following the law, we just obey it to our best ability. Accidents such as accidentally shooting a hen happen just like over bagging accidentally on ducks when shooting within a flock. It's not intentional, but it does happen.

Nick
 
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this was the 1st time in 3-5 years the big time warden in the area who gets his name in the outdoor news paper for the CO bust page often was not seen on our MN opening day pheasant hunt i didnt hunt with out group last yr but he was there he makes a his presence known yearly other then him we would never see a warden... he would just stop by check license & chat & move on... same warden was the guy to catch me with the roosters all dressed only gave me a warning... i never used to carry my license on my left it in the car after loosing a few in my life time he would give me a warning for that yearly but no real ticket he was a good guy just went by the book...

in SD i seen loads of wardens near watertown they were set n up a check point i think on way home they were near there check n folks with police... also got checked by a county sheriff while out camping in SD while pheasant hunting... same thing happened in FL with a sheriff he wanted to finger print me??? i kept smudging the prints he finely gave up...

never seen a warden in KS... had people tell me in WI they dont call wardens they call the sheriff/cops??? so never seen a warden in WI either... same with NE never seen a warden...
 
In KS, there are 73 wardens across the state for 105 counties. I've been hunting for 25 years now and I've been checked at a checkpoint one time and never in the field. On Opening Day in Rush County, we ran into a warden around 10:30 a.m. We were only the fourth group he had encountered.

He inquired if we were having any luck and where we were from. The other four guys had drifted over and we were fully expecting to be checked but instead he handed me a survey card for WIHA. He was a very pleasant fellow and wished us better luck on the day.
 
goldenboy said:
Sorry boys, you have gotten way off track on this post! I asked about hens that were caught by the dog. Not shot by me or anyone else. Just flat out live wild birds, that dogs do catch from time to time. Sorry pointer guys that is the facts from us flusher guys. I know it is wrong to shoot wild hens and all the banter about that. I was just asking if someone has ever asked a warden if they had a hen, caught by a dog question and what they heard. I might look mister green jeans up soon and put the question to him.
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its a great thread reguardless of ur intent lol the warden will tell you the same thing most these guys are no matter what you can not have a pheasant on your person while out hunting period... no matter if you found it killed or dog caught it cant have it on your person its that black & white that simple...

dog catches a hen i would be bummed out pissed off & if dead throw it when the dog is not looking if alive i do the same... if my dog caught a bird i would walk that dog on heel back to the truck for the day i dont need that to happen twice is my point... also the dogs not under control in my case that is at least not everybodys of course flushers are different less working parts to maintain then a pointer...
 
carptom1 said:
I guess i don't Understand how the frequency of my interaction with CO officers enters into the equation? I rarely have been checked but that doesn't enter into my decision to follow the rules.
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Because guys are saying they'd rather throw a hen in the weeds then have to deal with the law. Nobody is saying they'd break the law on purpose but if a hen gets killed a law was broken and I can't see not making the best out of the situation because of the 1% of the time I hunt I see a warden.

Doing the right thing might not be legal but it's right.

Kismet did the right thing in his story above but he took the risk of getting caught.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
Because guys are saying they'd rather throw a hen in the weeds then have to deal with the law. Nobody is saying they'd break the law on purpose but if a hen gets killed a law was broken and I can't see not making the best out of the situation because of the 1% of the time I hunt I see a warden.

Doing the right thing might not be legal but it's right.

Kismet did the right thing in his story above but he took the risk of getting caught.
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I don't see taking the bird as courageous based on the chances of getting Caught. The manly thing to do would be call the CO and explain the situation. I guess most of us arwe not that manly
 
I don't call the cops when I forget to put my blinker on and hold up traffic. I just try to not do it again.

I'm not going to call the game warden if I or my dogs ever kill a hen. I'll just try not to do it again.

I'm sure not going to do what I know is the wrong thing because I might get in a little trouble.
 
i dont think its correct or write to pass along the illegal game harvested to a un-knowing landowner thats even worse man??? u take that hen home & give the landowner a rooster is write in my book??? if u must take a hen back to the truck that is...

for those that say this will happen in time if we hunt enough that is pure B/S like MNMThunting said i dont know how you can not tell the difference of a hen from a rooster pheasant when your looking down your shotgun barrel B4 you shoot...

i was hunting with a guy this yr a young rooster jumped up i could see the ring on his neck & red on his neck/breast he hardly had a tail on him my buddy yelled hen i poped at it he looked at me funny so i can see how it mite could happen but in that case just dont shoot like my buddy did... killing a pheasant is not that importent that you just have to shoot to shoot at every bird...
 
People are not going share stories about shooting hens, having dogs bring back hens, or how to bring home hen pheasant meat (because maybe some believe that leaving the bird is less ethical ??) on an open forum.

Waterfowl forums are notorious for Mr Green Jeans investigating ... whether they did the investigative work or a fellow poster called tip.

How many times have you seen a thread where some guy counts the birds to figure out if they are over the limits. :confused:
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
I don't call the cops when I forget to put my blinker on and hold up traffic. I just try to not do it again.

I'm not going to call the game warden if I or my dogs ever kill a hen. I'll just try not to do it again.

I'm sure not going to do what I know is the wrong thing because I might get in a little trouble.
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EXACTLY. TIP is for GROSS violations (taking game out of season, continuous trespass, over limits, baiting).
 
My experience with hunters is their not real bright:eek: Thats why theres no wiggle room in the laws. You give a hunter an inch they'll take a mile. I'm a land owner I know this for a fact. Sad but true:( My dog is alway catching pheasant but they've alway been roosters:) He got three one year:eek: Think its because I hunt after heavy snows in heavy cover.
 
My previous Lab Chase would catch birds on the ground. He had some point in him, and if he pinned a bird, he'd get right on top of it. If you tried to kick it out, he'd help...if you gave him the command to flush it, he'd flush it. He was fast...I can only recall one hen he caught, and several roosters. My buddies and I used to joke that he could tell the difference...
 
A couple of years ago, when my son was in hunter ed, the CO from wyandotte and leavenworth county spoke to the group. The question was asked what do you do if a hen is accidently harvested. I was thinking shot, but accidents are accidents Right? He said that the conservation officer of the area should be called, and that he would issue a ticket. I wonder how many of those calls have been made. So at least according to this guy that is the way it should be handled.
 
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